Thursday, December 10, 2009

The First Myrmidon of Set

It started with Dragon #39 and the Anti-Paladin. While cool the article left me disappointed. The class seems to be the province of maniacs not all what I was thinking an anti-paladin would be like. To my way of thinking the opposite of a LG anti-paladin isn't a CE killer but a LE tyrant. As evil as the paladin is good the anti-paladin is the paragon of tyranny. These anti-paladins are called to a higher goal to be accomplished by any means.

I needed a cool name so I lifted AD&D's level title for a 6th level fighter, Myrmidon. Greek for " the one who obeys" or according to Merriam-Webster - a loyal follower; especially: a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously. Sounded perfect for my LE anti-paladin

Somewhere along the way in the mid 80s I ret conned Hellbridge Temple to be a Temple of Set. For a long time Myrmidon's were just scenery at the temple. Then around 1985 we were kicking around campaign ideas for the summer and everybody wanted to try an evil campaign. I have a vague memory of Dwayne thinking up and throwing away various characters. Finally the question of #39 came up and I said no I am not going to use that class but I do have Myrmidons. Dwayne liked what I came up with and decided to roll up Lord Divolic. (or as he spelled it Divolick).I admit trying to remember this goes back into hazy memory territory. But between the two of us and some preserved notes we managed to dig up some stuff.

It started with everybody at the Keep on the Borderlands. It was set in the Wilderlands on the edge of the Dearthwood. As it turned out the evil plans costs gold to it is off to the cavern they go. Right away ran into a big problem. They were handling the monster OK but they were POOR! They were getting virtually nothing for treasure. Then Divolic started examining all the swords, armor, and other gear so lovingly detailed in the way that only Gygax can do. He pulled out the PHB price list and realized that here was the treasure of the cavern.

So they quickly went back to the Keep and hired a teamster and his wagon. The rest of the module was the party clearing the section hauling it back to the wagon and taking it back to the keep. Divolic was able to negotiate a package deal with the merchant. They didn't get book price but it resulted in a lot of gold being paid out to the party.

At this point my Dungeon Master Adventure Log intrudes and I have a snapshot of the party just after they left the Keep on the Borderlands. Click to get a larger view.

The party members were:

Lord Divolic Myrmidon 4,, 52 hp, Male Human, LE with a +1 Platemail, +1 Shield, and a agate gem +3 vs poison, with Plate armor and shieldDivolic was the man with the plan within the group.

Aladan, Fighter/Illusionist , 2/3, Male Gnome N, 22 hp, a deep sphere (no clue), +2 scimitar, Cloak of Elvenkind, a Ioun Stone of some sort, with Splint and Shield.Heath was one strange player. He did crazy off the wall things like throw milk at barbarians.

Tryen, Archer 1st(from Dragon #45), Male Half Elf, 23 hp, NE, +1 Ring of Protection, Studded LeatherThe player was greedy which annoyed people out of game to where he dropped out of the group.

Ivie Jack, Archer 2nd, Male Half Elf, 26 hp, NG!, +1 Dagger, Plate Armor and ShieldThe player was a laid back guy who was along for the ride. Probably why the fact he was NG didn't get him killed.

Tab, Thief 3rd, Male Human, 39 hp, CE, +1 longsword, +2 throwing dagger, Studded LeatherTim of Gothridge Manor's character. Must have died at some point because later in the campaign he plays a fighter named Count Travlin.

Highlights of the rest of Divolic's career

Went into a Dungeon and used local peasants as trap detectors. Had to kill the local strongman before he was able to force them to do it.

Went through the A series and wound up coming a Slave Lord.

Subdued a Blue Dragon and made a deal to use her offsprings for dragon steeds.

3 comments:

No he was just amibitous. He did anything to further the goals of the Dark Father. Of source he believed no one but he knew what the correct way was. He became a super villian when Rob took him over as an NPC.

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The Old School Renaissance

To me the Old School Renaissance is not about playing a particular set of rules in a particular way, the dungeon crawl. It is about going back to the roots of our hobby and seeing what we could do differently. What avenues were not explored because of the commercial and personal interests of the game designers of the time.

What are RPGs?

A game where the players play individual characters interacting with a setting with their actions adjudicated by a human referee.

Rules are an aide to help the referee adjudicate actions and to help the players interact with the setting.

Dice are used to inject uncertainty which make a tabletop RPG campaign more interesting than "Let's Pretend".

The only thing a player needs to do to roleplay a character is to act if he or she was really there in the setting in that situation.